Trouble Shooter
Trouble Shooter — frequently asked questions
- What platforms is Trouble Shooter on?
- Trouble Shooter was released on Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.
- When did Trouble Shooter release?
- Trouble Shooter was first released on November 1, 1991.
About Trouble Shooter
After a prince is taken hostage by Blackball, a mutant weapons genius, Madison (the blonde on the right) and Crystal (the brunette on the left) fight through Blackball's domain on hoverpacks to rescue him. Madison will always shoot to the right. Crystal has more firepower, and she can shoot either left or right, left in order to take care of enemies approaching from behind, or right in order to deal more damage. At the beginning of each stage, you can also choose between four different special weapons. Lightning Storm shoots electricity at random, Tidal Wave is a line of vertical energy that you can control, Blizzard sends circles of energy spiraling outward from you, and Avalanche is a wall of missiles. When King Frederick's only son and heir to the throne is kidnapped by Blackball, the mutant military weapons genius, an international disaster seems imminent. Colonel Patch quickly contacts the "Trouble Shooter" team to find Prince Eldon and destroy Blackball and his treacherous robotic underworld. Madison and her faithful sidekick, Crystal, go through five stages of fearful creatures in their adventure throughout Blackball's domain. Will Prince Eldon survive? Can Madison destroy Blackball? Will the girls emerge from Blackball's evil empire safely? Only time will tell...
Summary via IGDB.
Game details
- Developer
- Vic Tokai
- Publisher
- Vic Tokai
- Game modes
- Single player
- Themes
- Action, Comedy
Details via IGDB.
Reception
Every version compared
Prices, contemporary reception and the studio credited for each release
| Platform | Year | Loose | Complete | Sealed | Period reviews | Fake risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sega Genesis | 1991 | $100 | $282 | — | 14 reviews | Medium |
Also released on: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. We haven’t priced or authenticated that version yet.
Collector value & authenticity
Sega Genesis · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-10-29
Other releases and variants
| Release | Loose | Complete | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese release (Battle Mania) | $296 | $555 | — |
How often it sells
- Loose: about once a week
- Complete: about 2 times a month
- Sealed: about once a year
Sales frequency from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, as of 2026-10-29.
Price over time
- Loose
- Complete
A loose copy sold for about $6.75 in Jul 2008, $108 five years ago, and $100 as of Oct 2026.
Show as table
| Month | Loose | Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2009 | $5.48 | — |
| Jan 2010 | $5.48 | — |
| Jan 2011 | $19.99 | — |
| Jan 2012 | $19.99 | — |
| Jan 2013 | $30 | — |
| Jan 2014 | $20 | $41 |
| Jan 2015 | $28 | $35 |
| Jan 2016 | $47 | $87 |
| Jan 2017 | $70 | $150 |
| Jan 2018 | $50 | $170 |
| Jan 2019 | $64 | $142 |
| Jan 2020 | $76 | $170 |
| Jan 2021 | $124 | $221 |
| Jan 2022 | $134 | $340 |
| Jan 2023 | $108 | $344 |
| Jan 2024 | $94 | $275 |
| Jan 2025 | $101 | $295 |
| Jan 2026 | $95 | $277 |
| Oct 2026 | $100 | $282 |
Monthly price estimates from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, sampled quarterly, through Oct 2026.
Release record
| Territory | Date | Product number | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | November 1991 | — | 034912784697 |
| Japan | 6 March 1992 | T-23013 | — |
- Region
- JP+NA
- Released
- 1991
- Authenticity
- Med
A colorful, self-parodying shooter from Vic Tokai, and one of the priciest US carts.
Trouble Shooter is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed and published by Vic Tokai. It came out in North America in November 1991 and in Japan as Battle Mania on 6 March 1992. It was directed by designer Fujito "Takayan" Takada, and its enemies, story and dialogue are built around self-parody; a scene in which the hero stomps on a Super Famicom was added because Takada was annoyed at the budgets Super Famicom games got compared with Genesis games.
Sega Pro, reviewing it as an import, called it Forgotten Worlds updated and a very good-looking, colorful game. A sequel, Battle Mania Daiginjo, came out for the Mega Drive in Japan and Korea only.
What the press said at the time
| AllGame | 3.5/5 | |
| Aktueller Software Markt | 8/12 | |
| Beep! MegaDrive | 7/10 | |
| Consoles + | 50% | |
| Famitsu | 22/40 | |
| Jeuxvideo.com | 13/20 | |
| Joypad | 78% | |
| Joystick | 90% | |
| Game Power | 85% | |
| Mega Drive Advanced Gaming | 61% | |
| MegaTech | 71% | |
| Power Play | 68% | |
| Sega Power | 86% | |
| Sega Pro | 73/100 |
“The brightly colored graphics are beautiful and painted in the style of Japanese cartoons. The digitized voices and sound effects are great.”
Undated scores are from the review table in the game's Wikipedia article, limited to reviews of the Genesis version.
Before you buy
This is one of the priciest US carts, so ask for a photo of the board before paying for an expensive copy. The Japanese cart (Battle Mania) usually costs much more than the US one and has a different cartridge shape. A complete US copy means the case, cartridge and manual.
Trouble Shooter screenshots
Watch on YouTube
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